This invention relates generally to rotary machines and more particularly, to apparatus for assembling wind turbine hub assemblies.
Generally, a wind turbine generator includes a turbine that has a rotatable hub assembly having multiple blades. The hub assembly is coupled to a rotor. The blades transform mechanical wind energy into a mechanical rotational torque that drives one or more generators via the rotor. The generators are generally, but not always, rotationally coupled to the rotor through a gearbox. The gearbox steps up the inherently low rotational speed of the rotor for the generator to efficiently convert the rotational mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is fed into a utility grid. Gearless direct drive wind turbine generators also exist. The rotor, generator, gearbox and other components are typically mounted within a housing, or nacelle, that is positioned on top of a base that may be a truss or tubular tower.
Some known hub assembly configurations introduce substantial weight at the top of the wind turbine tower in order to facilitate effective energy transfer from the wind to the blades and, subsequently, to the rotor. The associated load support features of the nacelles that support the hub assemblies further facilitate increased weight at the top of the wind tower. However, the increased weight of the wind turbine generators may increase capital and operational costs.